Villar Mir to Back Atlatia's Bid for Abertis -Source

MADRID (EFE Dow Jones)--Villar Mir Group plans to support the tender offer made by Italy's Atlantia SpA (ATL.MI) in June to take over all of Abertis Infraestructuras SA (ABE.MC) for more than 16.3 billion euros ($19.3 billion), a source close to the company said on Friday.

Approval from the Spanish group, which holds more than 1.7% stake in Abertis, comes after The Children's Investment Fund Management backed the bid earlier this week.

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The board of Abertis will issue a mandatory report in the next seven days in which it will recommend whether or not to accept the bid and explain its point of view, in accordance with Spanish regulations. The acceptance period for the offer ends on Oct. 24. Criteria Caixa, which holds 24.2% of Abertis' capital and is its main shareholder, is expected to issue a statement on its position regarding the deal, a spokesperson for the banking foundation La Caixa said.

At 12:10 GMT, Abertis shares fell 0.1% to EUR17.42.

This story was translated in whole or in part from a ?Spanish-language version initially published by EFE-Dow Jones, a partner of Dow Jones & Co.